harbar.net component based software & platform hygiene
June 2007 Blog Posts

SharePoint Farm Least Privilege and hotfix packages

As previously discussed, it is possible to configure your SharePoint Farm to abide by the principle of least privilege. However there are some additional steps required if you have deployed any of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix packages dated later than April 12th 2007. For the most part, the SharePoint Configuration Wizard (SCW) and Central Administration take care of assigning the necessary rights and group memberships. There are two exceptions with the RTM bits: IWAMRegService Activation (aka DCOM 10016 issue) %windir%/tasks Unfortunately, the hotfix packages add another manual configuration task. Whilst it is a...

Content Deployment: Ensure your platform hygiene before randomly abusing the product and calling support.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'it's that Harbar again, ranting uncontrollably about some admin crap I don't care about'. Well that might well be the case, but the thing is you should care. Especially if you are building solutions based upon the Web Content Management (WCM) features of Office SharePoint Server 2007. See the important bit is the word 'solutions' - that means the entire thing, not just the funky recursive wrapped wrapper you got for dealing with '/pages/', your reflection bling and email address capture widget. One of the WCM features is that of Content Deployment. Content...

SharePoint Egg Timer #1: "We want a SharePoint site that doesn't look like a SharePoint site"

If there was a novelty egg timer for SharePoint consultants (a bit like a magic eight ball) without doubt it would feature questions such as "can I do that SSP stuff over the WAN?", "can I have sub-minute inter-data center failover?" and "does it work OK with Office 1974?". These are a few of the questions you just know are coming straight off the bat, most likely before the customer even has a comprehension of what WSS or SPS or MOSS can do for them. However, if there was a "limited edition" SharePoint Egg Timer, say one which timed only one...

NO! Your SharePoint Farm Account does NOT need local admin privileges. So don't give it them!

Easily the most irritating element of mis-configuration in a SharePoint 2007 farm is the assignment of local admin privileges (for each box in the farm) to the account used for connections to the configuration database and as the identity of the application pool hosting Central Administration (commonly referred to as the 'farm account'. THIS IS NOT A REQUIREMENT!!  THIS IS NOT A REQUIREMENT!! Your farm account can be a regular domain user, no special requirements at all. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard will assign ALL the required privileges automatically (which the exception of DCOM activation as detailed here, and the issue with %windir%\Tasks). So...

Announcing three CodePlex projects for community WCM code samples

Cross posted on Andrew Connell's blog. We (Spencer Harbar & Andrew Connell) would like to announce three new CodePlex projects created to enable the community to share examples of useful Publishing site elements built using the Web Content Management features of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Initially these projects contain a number of commonly used MCMS 2002 Placeholder controls converted for use within MOSS Publishing sites which have been graciously donated by Microsoft. Over time these samples will be augmented and enhanced. Future plans include the consolidation and alignment of deployment mechanisms of all code samples in all projects. All the CodePlex projects...

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 (finally)

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is now available for free download in both 32bit and 64bit versions. New features include: PXE boot support for guest OSes A command line tool for mounting VHDs as virtual drives on other OSes Support for Volume Shadow Copy snapshots as a backup mechanism Virtual Server can run more than 64 guest OSes on x64 platforms 128GB is now the default size for expanding disks But, still no 64 bit guest support which will be available in Longhorn Server Virtualisation codename Viridian.

Damn, that's a beautiful sight!

No, not the SharePoint community at Tech Ed evening events such as a piano bar featuring live musical performances (more on that later), but the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which we watched launch early Friday evening. - NASA photo (obviously) I'm not a fan of the word awesome, which is often used to describe something that isn't, however this sight was exactly that. It's also somewhat of an emotional experience, with the significant crowd watching from our vantage point someplace near Cocoa Beach hollering pride and support. If you get a chance to experience this - do not even think of passing it...

22 hours battery life... if only

After various comedy attempts to acquire a extended life battery for my stonkingly good VAIO SZ4 laptop, I had to resort to Sony Style despite being told a couple times by 16 year old store assistants, "Sony doesn't have any in stock". Anyway, I finally got one, and it's bloody good, it has a riser effect which makes the keyboard better and now I can get around 7-8 hours of battery. It also fits in the cheaper of the two slipcases which is great for shows etc. The only downside is the increase in weight - with this battery weighing...

Tech Ed - Orlando

It's that time already - another June - (yet) another Tech Ed. If you are attending and want to hook up regarding WCM or any other Office SharePoint Server topics, you will likely find me loitering around the Technical Learning Center and at the WCM sessions. Feel free to email me if you have a busy schedule and require more formality! If you are building WCM solutions be sure to attend the Birds of a Feather chaperoned by Andrew Connell and myself. I've just arrived at my hotel - which has a bizarre "hollywood" theme - go figure. Looking forward...